I have been asked that question so many times. I guess because my personality does not lend itself to that of a typical quilter. I have often asked back just what people think would be a hobby of mine. I have been told many things, from deer hunter to soldier of fortune to professional cage fighter. :-) I don't think of myself as such a hard ass, but apparently I come across that way. Honestly, I think I'm pretty boring. I try to be a good mom and a good wife, I work full time, I quilt, work in my garden, dream about and save my pennies to travel abroad (first stop England and Wales) and I read about medieval times and the history of the UK in general. Oh yeah...don't mess with this tough chick!
The first quilts I made were for my boys when I found out I was pregnant. My husband taught me, in the manner his grandmother had taught him, squares cut with the help of a cardboard template and scissors, batting, muslin backing, birth it and tie that sucker off! We were soooo fancy, actually went to a fabric store and bought cotton fabric rather than using salvaged leisure suits and house dresses like she did, But we did tie them off with her trademark red yarn! The most important lesson learned from making those two tiny quilts was that quilting was a pain in the butt and I never wanted to do it again.
So then jump forward ten years. I was home sick from work (honestly sick, laying on the couch watching TV...not just taking a mental health day) and Sewing With Nancy was on PBS and she had such cool tools and made everything look so easy! Not long after I was talking with an online friend who said she thought it would be neat to exchange quilt blocks. Well, that was all the incentive I needed to go out and get a rotary cutter and mat. I was sure I was going to cut my fool hand off with it so Gene did all the cutting for my first real, larger than crib sized quilt. It was sewn by hand and tied, but I was so proud, oh yeah, and hooked!
So now its your turn....what made you start quilting (or enter the hobby of your choice) anyway?
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About Me
- Mary
- Bargersville, Indiana, United States
- I'm a 45 year old wife and mother. Quilting is my haven from the real world.
3 comments:
I just found your blog working my way around the Q4P ring.
I'd been doing needlework of all kinds from when I was 10 years old. I happened to get an advertisement for a quilting book and I knew it was something I wanted to try.
I bought a book and read it, mulled it over, read it again, maknig sure I had all the steps understood before I began.
My first quilt was made while I was pg with my 3rd child, it was a baby quilt for her. An attic windows all pieced and quilted by hand. I was hooked from the first stitch!
That was 15 years ago, I machine piece most of the time now but still only hand quilt except for making bags. I've made literally hundreds of quilts in the 15 years and still have more ideas than I'll ever have time for!
Nice to "meet" you!
I started when I was 21 and pregnant with my first child. My grandmother taught me how to actually quilt a quilt but that was it. I bought fabric that I was able to quilt around the actual design in the fabric. I taught myself the rest.
I started way back when I was 17 (I just turned 45 - wow I have been doing this thing for a while...) when I saw a picture in a magazine of a bedroom with a quilt on the bed. The actual image was less than an inch either way, but the geometrical design was intriguing and I thought that couldn't be too difficult to make... I knew nothing at all about quilting, so I made the tecniques up along the way. So what if the pieces were a bit lopsided... I ended up with 25 blocks, none of which were the same size, but I fought the poor thing to submission with my mother's poor old sewing machine and ended up with something I could put on my bed. Even though it was a struggle, it didn't put me off trying again. The fact that I came across a quilting magazine with instructions shortly after finishing that first quilt helped!
Since then I have made more quilts than I can remember and have an ever growing fabric stash and more ideas than time, but oh what fun I'm having!
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